News & Updates
FEATURED | April 18, 2024
The Philippines can raise its voice loudly in the international stage against global warming- Garrity
The discussion during the 13th SESAM ExChanges last April 16, 2024 circled around landscapes, people and planet, featuring Dr. Dennis Garrity, former Director General of the World Agroforestry Centre. SESAM ExChanges is an environmental challenges and solution seminar series organized by the University of the Philippines-School of Environmental Science and Management (UPLB-SESAM).
Dr. Garrity, a systems agronomist and research leader whose career has focused on improving small-scale farming systems in the tropics. He has been serving as drylands ambassador for the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, emphasizing the role of agroforestry, evergreen agriculture and landcare for sustainable land management.
He currently chairs Global Evergreening Alliance based in Victoria, Australia. It is a partnership of nearly all of the major development and conservation organizations around the world. In addition, Dr. Garrity also chairs Landcare International, worldwide effort to support grassroots community-based natural resource management.
Meanwhile in his opening speech, Dr. Rico C. Ancog, Dean of SESAM, expressed his appreciation to Dr. Garrity who has been doing plenty of research and other related endeavors in environmental science. “His ideas are quite not the norm now, but we are inviting everyone to have an open mind because any complex problems will really require thinking out-of-the-box, meaning maybe not within the usual norm, but that is precisely the role of the academic community,” Dr. Ancog said.
Dr. Garrity is a supporter of SESAM for decades. “I’ve followed the development of the School of Environmental Science and Management ever since it started out as the hydro-ecology project under the leadership of Dr. Percy Sajise in 1975 when I was a graduate student in UPLB and he was my professor in advanced ecology,” Dr. Garrity said.
In his lecture entitled “human and ecosystems vulnerability to accelerated global heating in the Philippines, so what’s the plan?” Dr. Garrity stressed the importance of improving small-scale farming systems in the tropics. “The earth is cooking and the ecosystem is bearing the brunt of it, along with billions of vulnerable people and the organisms that we share with in this beautiful planet,” he added.
“The policy implication of such a prospect for the Philippines is such enormous, the question is how can we inform the Philippine public and political leaders that it is not necessary just to sit back and wait for disaster to happen, the Philippines can raise its voice in the international stage and call vigorously for more research and development in these science-based solutions,” Dr. Garrity stressed.
In the synthesis and closing remarks, Dr. Antonio Contreras, Professor, SESAM said that Dr. Garrity’s presentation was very scientifically warranted and necessary. “It is an eye-opener for all of us, which highlighted specifically what needs to be reinforced and replicated to solve the crisis we have now,” Dr. Contreras said.
SESAM ExChanges is organized by the Continuing Education and Training Division (CETD) of SESAM. More than 400 attended via Zoom and Facebook Live.
Empowering Indigenous Agriculture with Smarter Technologies: Project SARAi and Project STC4iD Training Initiatives in Oriental Mindoro
Agricultural stakeholders gather for a two-day event to enhance farming practices and agricultural sustainability in the province. In a bid to promote smarter agriculture technologies and empower farmers in the indigenous communities of Oriental Mindoro, a training program was conducted on 21-22 March 2024 at Mindoro State University (MinSU) Main Campus, Victoria, Oriental Mindoro. This event was organized by the Project Smarter Approaches to Reinvigorate Agriculture as an Industry in the Philippines (SARAi), in collaboration with the Project S&T Community-Based for Inclusive Development (STC4iD) on Livelihood Improvement of Mangyan Communities in Mindoro through Science and Technology (S&T) Interventions and Office of the Research and Extension of Mindoro State University (MinSU).
This training aimed to capacitate the participants on the use of SARAi systems and technologies, particularly: SARAi Knowledge Portal, SPIDTECH, BanaTech, Bantay SARAi, Weather and Climate, Good Management Practices of Banana, and Post-typhoon rehabilitation of banana through lecture presentations, demonstrations, and hands-on activities. The event brought together a diverse group of agricultural stakeholders that included Indigenous People (IP) Educators of Mangyan Community, Pampamayanang Mangyan Ugnayan Inc. (PMUI) staff, Farmer Leaders, Local Government Units (LGUs) of Oriental Mindoro, and faculty and researchers from MinSU.
Hosted by MinSU, the event commenced with a welcome message from Director Lourdes Icalla of the Research and Extension Division. On the first day of the training, lectures were delivered by Dr. Decibel V. Faustino-Eslava, Project Leader for the SARAi Integration; and SARAi Experts, Dr. Artemio Salazar, Mr. Gideon Aries Burgonio, Asst. Prof. Dara Fabro-Realin, Ms. Dara Miracle Montalbo, Ms. Maria Regina V. Regalado, Ms. Glaisa R. Garcia, Mr. Lance Irvin Elleva and Mr. Edgardo Agoncillo. One of the event’s highlights was the hands-on activities and field demonstration of the BanaTech and SPIDTECH which was facilitated during the second training day. Participants had the opportunity to learn from the SARAi Experts, engage in discussions, and explore the latest agricultural technologies designed to maximize crop production despite impacts brought by our changing climate.
The training received positive feedback from participants who expressed enthusiasm about integrating the newly acquired knowledge and skills into their regular farming practices. The two-day event concluded with the closing message from Dr. Erwin Icalla, Project Leader of STC4iD. Dr. Icalla conveyed his appreciation towards Project SARAi, PMUI, and Project Educators for a fruitful two-day training, emphasizing further that he looks forward to adopting the systems and technologies of Project SARAi to capacitate more indigenous people in their community. (MEMAmante, RLDAreglado, MRVRegalado, BMLPedrezuela)
Chocolate Hills to be discussed in the next SESAM ExChanges
The School of Environmental Science and Management, University of the Philippines Los Baños (SESAM-UPLB) is pleased to invite you and your colleagues to the SESAM ExChanges 12 of the Continuing Education and Training Division (CETD) titled “Environmental Governance of Natural Monuments: The Case of Chocolate Hills”.
It will be held online via Zoom and streamed live via the SESAM FB page on 11 April 2024, 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 via this link: https://bit.ly/EC12Reg or scan the QR code.